Last week, I woke up, checked my email, and received an email from my friend Mo at charity: water with a link to this video. At first I was confused, and thought it was some sort of mistake or general video for a bunch of people. But as it played on, I realized they made this video for me. Wow! That is some kind of amazing thank you. Last year, I gave up my birthday to raise money for clean water through charity: water, and that is what they are thanking me for in this video. I know hand-written thank you notes are all but dead, but when you get a thank you note, it means so much because of the effort that goes into it. After thinking about that, I realized that maybe a video like this could be the new hand-written note. I think a video actually takes more time and effort, and it was a really fun surprise. Thanks for the video, Mo and Josh! And Happy 5th Birthday, charity:water.

If you don’t understand the flannel shirts, axe, or the lumberjack references, they are spoofing my promo video The Woodsman which you should definitely watch. It’s worth 1 minute of your time if I do say so myself.

I recently shot an ad campaign for a new water bottle company called MiiR. The images turned out pretty amazing, but you are going to have to wait a little longer to see them. I know, what a tease. That’s not the reason I am writing today, though. Besides making awesome bottles, one of the great things about MiiR is the one-for-one business model they work under. Every bottle sold gives one person in a developing nation clean drinking water for one year. This is done through an organization called Charity: Water. Through working on this ad campaign, I have learned a lot about Charity: Water and the work they are doing to provide clean water to people in need by drilling sustainable wells. The video above does a great job painting a picture of what is being done and what still needs to be done. That being said, I decided to join the Charity: Water September Campaign, and give up my birthday. In just a few days I will be turning 30, and rather than asking for gifts, I am asking people to donate $30 toward the goal of $5,000 which will provide a well for an entire village. I know you were probably not going to get me anything for my birthday, but I just felt I should take advantage of the small platform this blog provides me to ask you to donate if you feel inclined. Although the campaign says to donate $30, any amount would be amazing. $1, $2, $5, whatever. It’s hard to make a difference as one person, but if each reader this week gave just a few dollars, we would be funding a well, and then some. To make a donation and contribute toward building a well, you can go to this link, John Keatley’s 30th Birthday Campaign.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. It is something that has been on my mind lately, and I hope it resonates with some of you too.

I should also mention that 100% of donations go directly toward water projects. Administrative costs are separately fund raised by Charity: Water. They are a very transparent organization, and you can find out a ton more by visiting their website www.charitywater.org.